Playback
by SimpsonSortia
Summary: A young man, filled with grief, mourns alone. A wife's strength provides him with his own. One-shot, Dramione.


Disclaimer: I do not own any of the original characters or elements of J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter. Anything written here is purely for entertainment and will not be making any profit.

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Playback

Summary: A young man, filled with grief, mourns alone. A wife's strength provides him with his own.

Main Characters: Draco Malfoy. Hermione Granger.

Rating: T

Warnings: Grief and mourning. Death.

Genre: Hurt/Comfort. Family. Romance. One-shot.

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– Playback –

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_Click._

_Rewind._

_Play._

_Click._

_Rewind._

_Play._

Emptiness filled each cubicle and office of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement within the British Ministry of Magic, on a dark and lonely Saturday afternoon.

Except one.

_Click._

_Rewind._

_Play._

The light from a small box flickered across a young man's face, lighting his darkened grey eyes and platinum hair as he sat hunched over in the uncomfortably standard office chair.

_Click._

_Rewind._

_Play._

His eyes followed the movement of the woman on the screen. Her steps along a watery pavement, her gentle stride avoiding the puddles and dirt she'd inevitably have washed out by a house elf that evening.

_Click._

_Rewind._

_Play._

Her soft smile as a young boy on a bicycle stopped to ask her a question, the time perhaps, as she willingly gave it to him.

He wondered if she'd been thinking of him that day.

_Click._

_Rewind._

_Play._

_Click._

_Play._

After a long pause, he made one of the hardest decisions of his life.

He let the tape run on.

His hands began to shake as he watched the woman move gracefully along, before stopping at the side of the road.

His eyes filled with salty tears as she looked both ways up the suburban road.

His hand rose to his mouth, as if to stifle a sob, as she took a step off the curb.

Draco Malfoy watched his mother's last movements in Muggle London, before she was hit by a Muggle driver in a Muggle car, alone, in an empty office.

_Click._

The tape had run to an end as the screen went blank, yet the image burned behind his eyelids.

A gentle sob behind him distracted him momentarily from his melancholy.

'Draco...' She choked, her lips moving but forming no words.

He could not rise to comfort her. He could not comfort himself.

He felt so alone. So empty.

Her soft hand on his shoulder brought a warmth to his body that he had not felt since hearing the fateful news three days prior. Her hand on his cheek stirred a feeling, an emotion within his chest, his heart.

Hope, perhaps.

'Draco.' She murmured again, leaning her forehead against his own, her falling tears mixing with his, spilled across the knees of his trousers.

He had no clue as to what to say to her. No words to provide in that moment.

He shook his head.

'You don't have to.'

This was one of the reasons he loved her so. She knew what was crossing his mind, almost before he knew himself.

Her presence there, with him, in that empty room, that lonely building, lifted the darkness that had settled in his heart.

He knew he should have been honest with her. He knew he should have returned home to her the night he had received the news.

But he knew she loved him unconditionally.

And he knew she would find him, when the time was right.

'Let's go.' She kissed both his cheeks, before rising to her feet, her hands held out for his own.

He inhaled, his shaking breath muffled in the cramped room.

He nodded, raising his eyes to meet hers. 'Let's go.'

She moved to the doorway, allowing him space to collect the few items he had with him, Narcissa Malfoy's personal effects.

A scarf.

A small purse.

Three Galleons.

A delicate mirror.

Her wand.

All he had left of his mother. There was nothing worth having within the Manor. The Ministry had stripped the Malfoys of their most precious possessions. 'As a debt to society', the Auror had said.

Had they not done enough? Had limiting her magical activity not been punishment in itself?

This was why she had been walking down a Muggle street. This was why she had been away from her family, her home. She had needed to get out. To get away, for just a short while, an hour or two at most.

This was why she had died.

'Draco.' His wife's voice called to him gently from the doorway. 'Its time.'

He nodded again. His anger ebbing away, replaced with a solemn grief.

He turned towards her, his mother's things clutched in his hands.

A sad smile graced her features, her own suffering evident behind her mocha eyes.

'Hermione...' He started, faltering.

She nodded back. She needed no words.

'Thank you.'

He meant it with every part of his body. With every bone, every fibre of his being.

He wanted to thank her for being there for him. Not just this day, but every day.

For being his world, his everything.

For being his other half.

He could only hope that she understood all he meant in those two, simple words.

Her gentle steps told him all he could hope for, her arms around his neck, her eyes fixed on his.

'I love you, Draco.'

And those words gave him all the strength he could need to face his mother's funeral.

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**A/N: A bit of a sad one, I know. It came from an image I couldn't get out of my head, so it was either this or turn it into a short film! Which I might do anyway.**

**This has been a little tricky to get the formatting right with, as there are so many single lines of text. I've tried a few things, so I hope this looks right in the end!**

**I can only apologise for my absence from the site. I'm so sorry I've been so terrible with updates and new stories and everything I promised. Things have been CRAZY over here.**

**And they're _finally_ slowing down a little, so I am now able to get back into the swing of things.**

**It hasn't helped too much that I've had quite an incredible writer's block. Which has not helped matters, fanfiction or career-wise, so I hope you can appreciated a gentle easing back in before I continue _The Wheels Are Falling Off The World_, as that needs a fair bit of work on my part before I'm willing to put the next chapter up.**

**Well, I hope this hasn't depressed you too much! All I can say is go and read one of my happy stories if it has. Hey, go and read one of my other stories even it hasn't!**

**As always, I'd love your feedback. It can only help me as a writer in all aspects of my work.**

**Thank you lovely people,**

**_SimpsonSortia._**


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